Too Close For Comfort
by waywardrenegades
Summary: Sam's sister Sarah comes to visit the precinct and meets Andy. Set after Andy and Luke break up. No longer a one shot, due to some very sweet messages and reviews. Thank you all so much!
1. Chapter 1

**_Author's Note:  
>Ever since they mentioned his older sister, Sarah in 'Big Nickel' 1x10, I've always wanted to see her. In my head, she's the type of girl who has no problem busting Sam's balls and since he's her younger brother, she's the only one in his family who gets away with calling him 'Sammy'. I always wanted to explore the dynamic between Sam and his sister and thought this was a pretty good way to start.<br>Tell me what you guys think, does my idea of Sarah Swarek match what you thought she'd be like?  
>Read and Review :) <em>**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue or it's characters. **

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><p>"Is Swarek holding a baby?" Traci Nash said incredulously, her eyes focused over Andy's shoulder across the room.<p>

"What?" Andy said, laughing as she turned to see that Sam Swarek was, indeed, holding a giggling baby in his arms. "He is holding a baby," she said in disbelief.

"And he's smiling," Traci said, shaking her head at the strange sight.

Andy headed across the room, stopping just short of the senior officer and looked at him expectantly, a wide smile on her face.

"What?" he asked gruffly, looking at her over the infant's head.

"Who's this?" she asked, reaching out a hand to squeeze the baby's tiny fist.

"This is Hannah," he said, his face softening as he said her name.

Andy smiled, "Is she yours?"

Sam gave her a flat glare, as she heard a female voice from behind her say, "He wishes."

Sam rolled her eyes as Andy turned to see a beautiful brunette woman join them. She was dressed casually in jeans and a plain white tshirt but was still gorgeous; her chocolate brown hair cascaded over her shoulders in soft waves and her dark eyes had a softness to them that made Andy feel immediately at ease.

"Aren't you going to introduce me, Sammy?" she said, smiling at him.

"Right, sorry. McNally, this is my sister, Sarah. Sarah, this is my partner, Andy."

Sarah's eyebrows shot up as she smiled and held her hand out to Andy, "Very nice to meet you."

"You too."

Sarah reached out and took her baby back from Sam, "Hi baby," she cooed, hoisting Hannah up in her arms. "Well, Han, what'd ya say? Did you miss Uncle Sammy?"

The baby smiled, giggled and clapped her hands together, causing all three of them to smile back.

"She's gorgeous," Andy commented, smiling down at the baby's sandy blonde head. "How old is she?"

"She'll be 11 months in November," Sarah said proudly, rubbing her hand over Hannah's back. She paused, "Do you want to hold her?"

"Oh, no... I couldn't... it's okay."

"Come on," Sarah said with a smile. "She won't bite, I promise."

Andy glanced at Sam helplessly who simply shrugged and watched as his sister handed his niece over to her.

The baby tilted her head curiously as Andy tried to settle her in her arms uncomfortably, before reaching out a tiny fist and yanking hard on her braid.

Andy laughed, and bounced Hannah in her arms while she giggled.

"You're a natural," Sarah said softly, her eyes on her brother.

Sam couldn't tear his eyes away from Andy. She was looking down at his niece with such love in her eyes that he could feel it tugging on his own heart. She had a small smile on her face as she rubbed her hand in circles on Hannah's back, looking more at peace than she had in months and Sam was proud that it had been his family that had given that to her.

Sarah smiled and bit down on her bottom lip, shaking her head slightly at her brother. She'd never seen him look at a woman like that before.

"So... Andy," Sarah said. "Are you single?"

"Sarah!" Sam exclaimed, glaring at his sister.

"What?" she asked, mock innocently.

"You're being nosy," he said, shooting an apologetic look at Andy.

"She doesn't have to answer if she doesn't want to," Sarah protested, turning her attention away from her younger brother.

Andy laughed, "No it's fine. I am single."

"Really," Sarah said, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

Andy nodded, "It's new," she said with a sad smile.

"What happened?"

"Jesus," Sam said, rolling his eyes. "McNally, you don't have to answer that."

"It's fine, Sam," she turned back to Hannah. "My fiance slept with his ex."

"Wow," she breathed. "That sucks."

Andy smiled, "Yeah, tell me about it."

"Oh well, you're better off, right?"

Andy nodded, "Exactly."

Sarah smiled and nodded definitively as Andy held out her arms to pass Hannah back to her mother.

"I should really get back to work, I was supposed to meet Chris in the barn five minutes ago," she told Sam with a smirk before turning to Sarah. "It was really nice to meet you."

"You too," Sarah said softly, her eyes still on Sam's softened face.

Andy leaned into Hannah and took her small hand in hers, pumping it once, twice, three times. "It was nice meeting you too, Hannah."

Sam tried his hardest not to smile but he couldn't help it, she was just too adorable. Andy threw a smile over her shoulder at Sam and Sarah as she walked away, with Sam watching her retreating back until she rounded the corner, out of sight.

He looked back down at his sister, who was staring at him, a smug smile plastered across her face.

"What?" he said, already preparing himself to be on the defensive.

"I like her," she announced.

"That's nice."

"You like her too."

"What?" Sam said, rolling his eyes, acting like that was the most ridiculous idea in the entire world.

Sarah wasn't buying it, she laughed and rolled her eyes before kissing him on the cheer and telling him that she'd see him back at his place later for dinner.

Sam watched her leave, waving one last time at Hannah.

As always, Sarah had seen right through his bullshit. She'd always been able to tell when he was lying, and this was no exception - but he wasn't going to let her know how close to the truth she was.

Sam shook his head, she was definitely close. Too close for comfort.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Author's Note:  
>Due to some very convincing reviews and messages, this story is no longer a one shot! :) Thank you all for the kind words, I'm really glad you enjoyed the first part and I hope you enjoy the following chapters just as much. I don't really have much of an end game for this but it's fun to write for now :)<br>This chapter doesn't have any McSwarek interaction, it's just Sam and Sarah and gives some insight into Sarah's life in Saint Catherine's. Some Andy/Sam stuff to come in later chapters, promise!  
>Please continue to write and review! :)<em>**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue or its characters. **

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><p>"Leave the dishes," Sam instructed from his place at the kitchen table, watching as Sarah cleared the table, placing them in his sink and reaching to grab the dish washing liquid.<p>

"It's fine Sammy," she said, smiling at him as she squirted a helping into the sink, watching as the water cascading caused bubbles to foam up.

"God, you're worse than mom," he said, sliding down in his chair to rest his head against the back, closing his eyes. He felt a giant glob of foam land on his forehead as his eyes snapped back open to see Sarah standing in front of him, rubber gloves on, hand planted on her hip, giving him her signature death glare.

"Take that back," she demanded, her dark brown eyes – identical to his own – narrowed.

"Y'know, you kinda sound like her too," he teased, smirking.

"You take that back right now!" she exclaimed, throwing a dripping dishrag at her brother's face. Sam reached up with a cocky smirk and caught the rag one handed before it made contact with him.

"Good try, small fry," he said with a smile as he stood and walked over to his niece's high chair. Hannah raised her arms in anticipation as Sam pulled her out and hoisted her up into his strong arms. "Your mommy is hilarious, isn't she?"

Hannah clapped her hands together and giggled. Sam's smile widened as he remembered the way Andy had looked with her arms around the beautiful baby girl. He bounced Hannah on his forearm.

"I'll put her to bed," he offered, looking up to see that she'd been watching him, a smile on her pretty face. Sarah nodded and continued to watch as he walked to the stairs.

Sam sat down heavily in the armchair in his spare room, carefully resting his niece on his knee and struggling to open the Robert Munsch book. As his voice slipped over the familiar words of 'The Paper Bag Princess' that he'd read hundreds of times to Hannah, he let his mind wander.

The sun was setting outside the window and the room was filled with a warm, orange glow. It made the city seem softer, less dangerous, less scary. Most people lived in a delusional world where they believed that nothing bad ever happened. Stories on the news were just that, stories. But Sam knew better, it was his job to know better – he'd seen horrible things since he'd been a rookie and sometimes, it was almost too much to handle, but moments like these, moments where it was just him, his niece and the setting sun – he was almost able to forget about what he'd seen.

He finished the story and lifted Hannah up, paying careful attention not to wake her now that she'd already fallen into a deep slumber and placed her down in the crib that he kept in his hall closet for when his sister came to visit.

He switched on the baby monitor on the side table before easing the door shut and making his way back down to where his sister was seated on the couch, glass of red wine in hand.

Sam flopped down next to his sister and looked at her carefully. She was lost in thought, her mind clearly elsewhere, and she looked sad.

"Sarah," he said softly. "What happened?"

Sarah lifted the wine glass to her lips and took a long drink before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and spitting the words out quickly, "Nick left."

"What?" Sam exclaimed, his hand already reaching for his truck keys on the coffee table.

Sarah rolled her eyes and exhaled in a loud sigh, "He left."

"Again?" Sam asked, his voice softer as he saw the glistening tears in his sister's eyes. His fingers released the keys as he settled back into the couch cushions to listen. As much as he wanted to find his jackass of a brother-in-law and kick his skull in, he knew that that wasn't best for Sarah right now.

Sarah nodded, "He said that coming back last time had been a mistake, that he knew it was a mistake the second he stepped back into the house," a single tear rolled down her cheek and she made no move to wipe it away. She took another long drink of wine. "So I think it's for good this time, he's not coming back. And I'm done asking him to," she finished definitively.

Sam said nothing but reached out and squeezed her hand.

"He doesn't deserve you, Sarah. The guy left you when you were three months pregnant the first time, he's an asshole."

Sarah nodded, biting down on her bottom lip as more tears escaped, trailing down her flushed cheeks.

Sam squeezed her hand, "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine, Sammy," she said, smiling sadly. "I always am. I'm just worried about Hannah, I mean, she's so little, she hasn't even started her life and her father doesn't care enough to stick around."

"Hannah's going to be fine, Sarah."

"He doesn't even want to know her," Sarah choked out as a whole new round of sobs overtook her body, causing her to double over, tears streaming down her face.

Sam shook his head, he wanted to kill the jackass that had done this to his sister. "Sarah, Hannah's going to be fine. She's got you as a mom."

Sarah nodded, but still didn't look completely convinced.

"And when you need someone to teach her how to fend off all those boyfriends, you got me," he said, squeezing her hand once more before releasing it and standing, taking the glass of red wine out of his sister's grasp.

Sarah smiled a little but protested as he took the alcohol out of her hand, "Hey! Where're you going with that?"

"I think this situation calls for something a little stronger, don't you?"

Sarah's smile widened as she nodded and sighed, "Hell yes."

He walked back over, handing her a glass of amber liquid.

"Tequila?" she said, raising a single eyebrow. "Are we in University?"

"Gets you drunk faster," Sam said, taking a swig of his own glass as Sarah sipped hers.

"You know this from experience?"

"Maybe," he conceded with a smirk, downing the rest of his glass in a single gulp, wincing as the liquid slid down his throat.

"So…" she said after draining her own glass and raising it for her brother to refill. "Tell me about Andy."

Sam's posture stiffened, even as the buzz from the tequila began to kick in, "What about her?"

"Playing dumb might work with other people, but it doesn't with me," Sarah said, rolling her eyes.

Sam knocked back a shot – if this was the direction the conversation was going, he was going to have to get a lot drunker, a lot faster.

"Sure, drink more, that'll make me stop talking," Sarah commented sarcastically, laughing from her position on the couch. Sam turned around and leaned against his kitchen counted to glare at her, pouring another shot down his throat.

"She's just my rookie, Sarah," he said, finally rejoining her in the living room, taking a seat on the arm chair across from the couch, as if the extra distance between them would prevent her from being able to tell that he was lying.

"Right…" Sarah said, rolling her eyes and leaning forward on her elbows.

"You're the one having the crisis. I know I'm not great at the communicating thing but shouldn't we be talking about you?"

"I don't want to talk about me. I want to talk about you and the hot rookie."

Sam spluttered on his tequila and stared at his sister before clearing his throat awkwardly and trying to act casual, "You think she's hot? Hmm… hadn't noticed."

Sarah nearly snorted as she rolled her eyes at her brother, "Like hell."

Sam glanced around his living room – the curtains on the window, the picture on the mantel, the ceiling fan above him – determined not to make eye contact with her as she spoke again, "Sam, I have never seen you look at a woman like that before. I mean, I've seen you with girls, I've seen them fall all over you but I have never seen _you_ look at someone like that. You can't tell me she's just your partner."

"I have to tell you she's my partner. I have to keep telling _myself_ she's just my partner, or else… there are rules against that kind of thing, Sarah."

"So what?"

"Excuse me?"

"Sam, I did everything right. I followed all the rules, and look what happened," she stared him down before thrusting her glass forwards and sat emphatically, "I say, screw the rules. If they get in the way of your happiness then they don't matter."

Sam stared at his sister, at the way she was emphasizing her words – clearly she believed what she was saying but he couldn't, he couldn't just ignore the rules. Even for her. Or could he?

Would it be possible for him to just put himself first for once? Could he say 'screw it' like Sarah had and just tell her how he felt?

"Sam, you love her. Tell her before it's too late."

He looked up at her, startled at seeing tears in her eyes.

"Sarah, what's wrong?"

"I just really want you to be happy, Sammy. Don't let what you think you should do get in the way of what you want. Don't be like me."

Sam nodded, his eyes growing in alarm as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Sarah brushed the tear away and sat up excitedly, a broad smile on her face.

"Invite her to dinner!"

"What?"

"Invite her for dinner tomorrow night! I'll cook! It's the perfect excuse!" she exclaimed, her voice growing loudly in volume, half in excitement, the other half caused by the alcohol.

"Sarah, no."

"Wasn't a question, Sam."

She reached out to grab a napkin and a pen from the coffee table and began to plan out the meal, mumbling to herself.

She was already so excited, he couldn't not invite Andy. Not like he needed to be convinced.

"Okay, fine."


End file.
